Despite significant help from his allies on the left the general public has shunned the man.
There are no hardline numbers to reference as to what qualifies as a “Best Seller” these days, but there are times when it because readily apparent when a book does NOT qualify for the list.
Such as when it sells just five hundred copies in its debut week.
It was roughly two years ago when political expert Mark Halperin became one of the bodies collected curbside when the #MeToo plague swept through our culture. A number of women came forward to testify how the pundit had been overt in his sexual advances and it took little time for him to be cast aside. He lost his slot on Morning Joe, NBC News released him from further appearances, and he was sacked from a Showtime Network gig as well as losing an announced book deal.
But Washington being the cloistered hive that it is meant in due time Halperin attempted a bit of a rehab tour. He started a newsletter, then after pleading select personalities cautiously agreed to speak with him. Joe and Mika tried to include him in an online program they planned with coverage of the midterm election. They seemingly did so without approval from network executives, because once they got wind of the plan Halperin’s involvement was instantly culled.
The on-air couple tried a few other times this spring to re-legitimize Halperin, and then it was announced he had secured a new book deal. His tome, “How To Beat Trump” appeared from the start to be a tone-deaf endeavor. In it Halperin is said to have interviewed 75 people to draw up the game plan for 2020. The problem? All those hectoring voices on the left who are unforgiving of social inequities, unless you are someone to help their cause, and helped promote Halperin’s book had ZERO influence on the public
In its first week of release “How To Beat Trump” sold…five hundred and 2 copies. 502! That would not come close to paying for the printing. While the advance Mark received was not revealed, it is easy to state the gross sales on $10,000 falls well short of that first check he received. It probably fell short of the shipping costs to send this to retailers!
The laughable part is that one of the most prominent “experts” Mark interviewed was Donna Brazile, a woman with experience of losing to Donald Trump. Back in August Anthony Scaramuchi was singing the praises (in a wisely now-deleted tweet) of the upcoming release. Many on the left were touting the book, citing it as a source of deep knowledge.
It sold 502 copies.
And now that the release has not been warmly embraced, and therefore failing to vindicate the predatory author, those who participated are quickly backing away from the tire fire. When questioned why they lent support to a man chased out of their industry there is all manner of excuses being made.
We condemned it. Stood by the women. He was fired and disgraced. I chose to be interviewed for this project knowing that some of my friends would dislike it.
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) August 18, 2019
Sure, I just gave a quote to a journalist and will retweet it to save a lotta time. Besides, I’ve been here before with many of you.
— Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) August 18, 2019
Guessing the work of taking down Trump was just too important to stand behind proper standards.
Spoke with him by phone once about how to defeat Trump in the Midwest. Did not mean to hurt anyone, ever; should have done more research. My sincere apologies. @GretchenCarlson
— Jennifer Granholm (@JenGranholm) August 18, 2019
Sorry Ms. Granholm, but prior to this you had compared Halperin to Harvey Weinstein and Donald Trump. You knew exactly who you were dealing with.
To those who have asked, I have known Mark Halperin as a reporter for 25 years. He emailed me three questions about the 2020 race for a book he was writing and I replied in a few sentences, without giving enough thought to how my participation would be used or interpreted.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) August 18, 2019
By answering Halperin’s questions, I did not in any way mean to excuse his past, egregious behavior and, in retrospect, I regret responding at all.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) August 18, 2019
You knew the man for a quarter of a century, but the fact he was asking you questions for his book never came up? And we are supposed to consider you a savvy player in Washington.
Surely your participation has paled, now that he sold 502 copies.
The amusing thing is that the people who have embraced Halperin anew and were willing to overlook his grievous behavior have zero problem looking at the general public and seeing problems in our character. We are constantly lectured, forever accused, and perpetually derided over perceived social inequities. Yet here they were fawning over a fallen comrade, one who many have pointed out has never even properly apologized.
Well, the public was not buying it. They only bought 502 copies.
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